The present invention relates to an integrated optical component and its manufacture.
Integrated optical components have been produced using ion diffusion techniques. French Patent FR-A-2,574,950 depicts an integrated optical component having a monolithic glass body with at least one optical circuit path formed through ion exchange on its surface. The optical circuit path has the same constituents as the glass body plus ions which increase its refractive index to a value greater than that of the glass body. The glass body is provided with, on at least one of its sides where the optical circuit path exits, a sectioned cavity molded into the glass body. The optical circuit path ends at the said sectioned cavity and is aligned with it in such a way that an optical device, for example, an optical fiber, is positioned in the cavity and thereby optically aligned with the optical circuit path. The sectioned cavity can be formed with a transverse section groove in the shape of a V. This integrated optical component can be manufactured by a process consisting of:
(a) molding with high precision a monolithic glass body having a sectioned cavity on at least one of its sides, and
(b) forming in the piece obtained in (a), at least one optical circuit path by the ion exchange, i.e., ion diffusion, technique, with one end of this path being aligned with the sectioned cavity in such a way that an optical device positioned in the the cavity is optically aligned with the optical circuit path.
This integrated optical component can be, for example, a connector, a coupler-divider, a single-mode coupler, a single-mode multiplexer coupler, a multimode multiplexer coupler, a coupler allowing an optical fiber to be lined up with a collimating lens, or a multimode monitor.
However, in the component described in French Patent No. FR-A-2,574,950, the alignment precision of the sectioned cavities with the optical circuit paths is very delicate, especially for the manufacture of single-mode couplers which require a greater precision in positioning the fibers than the multimode couplers.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new integrated optical component whose construction is more precise and whose manufacture is easier and at a lower cost.